Our Story

Led by founding winemaker Jared Brandt – who trained in France under renowned Rhône vigneron Éric Texier – Donkey & Goat emerged as one of the quiet but defining forces behind the natural wine movement in the U.S. Founded in 2003, before “natural wine” even had a name, the winery helped ignite a new philosophy of winemaking in California.

Located in the heart of Berkeley’s Gilman District, Donkey & Goat became known for expressive, terroir-driven wines crafted with transparency, integrity, and minimal intervention. Their pioneering approach shaped the direction of American natural wine. As true innovators, Donkey & Goat produced the first commercially released Pét-Nat in the United States, helped popularize skin-contact white wines, championed lower-alcohol winemaking, and was among the first American wineries to list ingredients on their labels. These milestones helped define natural wine in America and set standards embraced by today’s leading producers.

OUR HISTORY

The founding winemakers spent a year with the inimitable Eric Texier in 2002 studying the art of crafting natural wines in the Rhone Valley before co-founding Donkey & Goat in 2004 in San Francisco. In 2006, with distribution around the US and a growing mailing list, Donkey & Goat moved to 2323-B 4th Street in Berkeley where they built out the first winery facility that is now home to Maître de Chai Wine. Five years later in March of 2011, with a newborn Lily Brandt, the Brandts embarked upon the extensive build out for the current Winery & Tasting Room at 1340 5th Street which opened in July of 2011. Today the Berkeley Wine Block includes three additional wineries that the Brandts helped bring to the block: Broc Cellars (2013), Hammerling Wines (2018) and Tessier (2024).

Although we have gone our separate ways as business and life partners, Tracey and Jared look forward to mutually supporting each other in the future. Tracey will promote her long and accomplished history at Donkey & Goat as she continues pursuing regenerative based projects supporting communities and non-profits working on Climate and Regenerative Agriculture. We look forward to having Donkey & Goat wines poured at Bay Area events supporting both in 2025 and beyond!